Waiting
by KateToast
Summary: Zack witnesses the rise and falls of Maddie's relationships, waiting for his turn to come. Oneshot. Eventual ZM.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

**A/N**: First SLOZC fic, but for some reason I keep getting inspired by these Disney and Nick shows even though I'm probably older than most who watch it... I'm older than the characters, too, actually. Which might explain why I write them as older, late teens/twenties and on.

Yes, I ship Zack and Maddie, but not on the show, more like a 'will happen in the future' kind of thing, because otherwise I get sort of weirded out if he's like, fourteen and she's seventeen. But they're so darn cute! Anyway, enjoy this, which spans ten years.

**XXX**

LANCE

You've never liked that dumb lifeguard, you tell yourself over and over again as you wander the halls of the Tipton one evening. He's stupid and weird and obsessed with water and definitely not as good-looking as you, so why does he get what you want?

You know it's crazy, that you're twelve (_but almost thirteen!_) years old and that there's a better chance of Moseby quitting his manager job at the hotel than Maddie Fitzpatrick ever liking you, but you can't stop the stirring of rage in the pit of your stomach every time you think about the two of them together.

Your mother tells you to let it go, that crushes are no big deal and that one day it'll disappear, so don't dwell on it; plus, she's nearly three years older than you, so it just isn't going to happen. But you can't help it, and you tell her so, declaring you'll do whatever you have to do, wait as long as you have to wait, until Maddie comes to her senses and realizes that the guy she's looking for is right in front of her, under her nose (_literally; stupid height difference!_).

You pacify yourself with the idea that she needs to date some clunkers before she notices what she really wants: you. And if that means a guy that doesn't know a single interesting fact other than exactly how much chlorine you should put in your pool to keep it a nice clear-blue color all summer, then so be it.

But that doesn't mean you have to like him, or any of the others that she'll go through after him.

Because you can't explain it in an only-up-to-sixth-grade-educated way, but you're certain the line will end with you.

**XXX**

JEFF

You think you finally know what the phrase 'My heart was ripped out of my chest' finally means.

All she can talk about all the time to anyone who'll listen is the stupid senior she likes. No one cares, you want to shout. Especially _me_! But you can't say that because then she'll get mad at you, and the one thing you don't ever want is for the girl of your dreams to be mad at you.

And you're so sure, _so sure _that she wants to go to her prom with you, even though later you realize: why would a beautiful, amazing fifteen-year-old girl want to go to the big dance with an average twelve-year-old boy like you? Oh, that's right: she doesn't.

It's the first time you've ever told her how you really feel, and you're shot down. But you won't let that dampen your feelings for her; she was just having an off-night, right? She's going to like other boys before she likes you. Plus, she danced with you, obviously that means something.

The handyman at the hotel you live in gives you the advice of following your heart no matter what, though he's sort of creepily staring at the picture he has of your mom up on his wall and you don't really want to think of a guy having feelings for your mom like you do for Maddie. But you like his words because they're what you're looking for; they're positive, not negative.

You don't understand what Maddie sees in the guy; he's a big jerk any girl would be lucky to _not_ have. He isn't that smart or cool or funny, though he is eighteen and somehow attracts a lot of feminine attention. It's like watching a role-reversal: Maddie is in your place, and the senior is in Maddie's. And he turns her down, just like she turns you down, and she's crushed, just like you're crushed. But you don't give up on her yet, because there's still time.

You sort of hope she gets, now, how you feel every time you see her. And you sort of hope she'll get, someday, that you aren't too bad a choice yourself.

**XXX**

TREVOR

Well he's certainly got something you haven't got: really, really, _really_ good grades, but is it truly your fault that your attention span is so short? Not at all. You swear it's ADHD or something, which you can't possibly be held accountably for.

You bet if you tried hard enough and read up on famous, crazy-looking paintings and their artists and old, world-renowned sculptures and their creators and large, lengthy books written by admired authors that you could take Maddie to a museum and wow her with all of your knowledge. If that's the type of thing she goes for, you could learn _every single detail _there is to know about Monet and Picasso and Shakespeare, if it will impress her enough.

He's also much older and very good-looking and those are two things you can't read a book or research online to get for yourself.

You hope that, at the worst, it's just a fling; the guy's only here for that scholar convention thing anyway, which means he's hopefully going home soon. Really soon. You were getting used to Maddie without any other guy in her life but you (_… and your twin brother, and Mr. Moseby, and Esteban, and all the guys at her school, and her brother, and her father…_). It was nice and comfortable, and you felt like you were really starting to get to know her, past the worshiping-from-afar stage and into a friendlier one.

But then this geek-except-not dude has to swoop in and ruin it all, taking up practically all of her free time, _plus _a lot of the time she's supposed to be working. He's always hanging around the candy-counter (_where _you_ should be_), inviting her to museums and restaurants and plays and libraries and who-knows-where-else.

And what can you offer her? A slice of pizza, maybe (_only if you haven't already spent your allowance or needed to pay anyone back_)? A walk through the park (_but not after eight at night because your mom doesn't let you out into the city that late_)? You're thirteen; you still barely have any independence, and she's almost sixteen, expecting nicer things than what a little kid who has no idea what these feelings he has for her really are could give her. She's still a lot taller than you too, you could barely hug her if you really wanted. If only puberty would hit sooner.

The stupid smart guy is really tall.

Your twin brother tells you to move on already; other girls like you, remember? There was Max, and there have been a bunch at school and guests at the hotel. And your brother is right, you _have_ liked other girls, except in the back of your mind you've still only got eyes for Maddie. Cody sighs and groans and demands that you get it in your head that you're never going to get her, that she's always going to be older and smarter and more mature than you so pining is a waste of time.

The day your rival leaves Boston to go back home, you brush your brother's comments off and go hang by the candy counter as Maddie mopes around, already missing this guy she barely knew.

One day when you're older and she's upset, you're going to kiss her tears away because age won't matter anymore.

**XXX**

COLIN

It comes as a surprise to you when you learn she has a boyfriend- a real, true, full-fledged relationship with a guy from her school that's been going on for at least three weeks. You almost curse yourself when London tries to spill all the details of Maddie and her newest guy to you; you're fourteen now, you're much (_much_) taller than you used to be (_you're Maddie's height now, thank God_), your voice is deeper and doesn't squeak that much anymore, you're a man now! You should've taken the initiative and asked her out or something before this private-school dweeb!

But deep down you know you never would've actually done anything, had you really considered it. She's seventeen, you're fourteen; she's almost done with high school and you're only starting next year. Her thoughts are full of college and newfound independence and law school and a high-paying attorney job at a well-known firm and finding Mr. Right and settling down in the Boston suburbs and the _future_. And what are you thinking of? The amount of damn homework you have to do for tomorrow and that stupid project you need to finish for Monday and how the hell you can scrounge up enough money to go to the movies Friday night with your friends and how many days are left until summer vacation and when the latest version of _Grand Theft Auto _is going to come out and the _present_.

You're a teenage boy, you aren't expected to be picturing yourself ten years from now yet. But Maddie is almost an adult and that's _all _she's expected to be picturing.

You don't truly believe London's gossip until you see it for yourself a few afternoons later. You're exiting the elevator into the lobby and you spy your (_never-going-to-get-rid-of-this-_) crush outside the entrance doors, and for the first time you notice she's with a guy you've seen around in the hotel before, and you put the pieces together and realize that you've seen him around because he's dating an employee of the Tipton.

You don't mean to, but you stand there and watch them as guests come and go through the doors. You'd never admit it because it's such a chick thing to say, but your heart breaks a little when you see them kiss. And when they pull back she looks happy, really happy.

And you want to break that guy's jaw.

But you've got an image to uphold; no use crying over spilt milk, you suppose as the moment you just witnessed replays in your head over and over and over and over again and God why isn't there a machine you can use to erase specific memories from your mind?

She enters and you try not to look at her because then you'll see that she's completely pleasant and nice and you'll know exactly why and you've never actually seen her kiss someone before and you feel unsettled, even though prior to now your feelings were sort of on the back-burner, always lurking but never in the foreground.

At school the next day you go up to a girl you know likes you and ask if she wants to go the movies with you and your friends Friday night, already calculating in your head how you can get enough money to pay for two tickets instead of just one.

You remember that long ago you were so sure Maddie was going to pick you one day, but you aren't known for your patience.

**XXX**

ROBBIE

You know it's cliché, but you had forgotten how beautiful she is, especially after nearly a year of not seeing her.

You had thought, at the end of the previous summer, that once Maddie left for college, you would finally (_finally!_) be free of that freaking crush you'd somehow failed to shake off during the course of the three years you'd known her. But here you were, sixteen years old and with a girlfriend to boot, greeting the former candy-counter girl with butterflies in your stomach.

When she had told you that she was going to Columbia University in New York, you had been torn between sadness that she was going to college and wouldn't be around at the Tipton anymore, and happiness at the prospect of moving on and getting over her, once and for all. Somehow, as if by fate, you had missed seeing her every time she'd returned home, including her nearly-month-long break over Christmas. It was a sign!

But no, summer rolls around again, she returns, and you're back to exactly how it was before she left.

The year certainly was easier to get through without her. Your thoughts weren't as occupied with Maddie than they were with your girlfriend, Emma, and you hoped it would stay that way. Alas… nothing works how you ever want it to.

You don't learn that Maddie has a semi-serious boyfriend at school until you overhear her chatting with your mother in your kitchen over glasses of lemonade, after Carey has caught Maddie up with her relationship with Tipton handyman Arwin.

The boyfriend is twenty, pre-med, from Connecticut. When your mother asks teasingly if he's handsome, and Maddie replies that he's _very _handsome, you glance at the mirror hanging on the wall near your bed, scrutinizing your reflection. Same sandy hair, same brown eyes, same 5'7" height.

You like to think you're pretty handsome, yourself.

She's still as fun and sweet and Maddie-like as you've always thought of her as. She cracks jokes and makes dry remarks and asks question after question about your life, about sophomore year and your girlfriend, offering suggestions on summer jobs and dispensing advice to any problem you give her. It's nice, being her friend, being able to talk to her as almost an equal. You don't feel so young when you approach her anymore, and you think maybe it's progress.

You meet her boyfriend halfway through July. He comes to visit for a while, you aren't sure how long and you don't want to ask and appear nosy, and he seems nice enough, but when you shake his hand in greeting, a man-to-man sort of gesture, something bubbles inside of you and you can't help but hold feelings of dislike. Maddie grins at your politeness as she hangs on his arm and proceeds to show him off to her Tipton family, sending one more smile meant just for you before they leave.

The way he looks at her is full of adoration, and you sort of want to gag as you listen to them tell the story of how they met- a 'cute meet', of course- and you try to pay attention as he raves about Boston and how much he'd love to live there someday and the look they give each other _then_, well, you want to downright poke your eyes out or something.

Emma comes over some days and finally she gets to meet Maddie. You watch for each girl's reaction; Emma is kind but a bit territorial, lacing her fingers with yours deliberately, while Maddie is sweet but a little hard on the teasing, inquiring if Emma is taking good care of her favorite boy who's ever had a crush on her. You blush at that, but then Mr. Pre-Med waltzes in and you grow annoyed.

As Maddie leaves once again for two more semesters of college, you really hope this will finally be the year you stop pining.

**XXX**

DAVID

This guy is a real winner.

You think you're getting closer to abandoning your boyhood love for her; the finish line is in sight and you are _determined_ to reach it before you go to college in the fall. You're prepared for a fresh start; you don't even have a steady girlfriend, just an occasional 'date' whom you bring with you to your senior prom, which is where you see Maddie again for the first time in a number of months.

It's also where you struggle to quell your feelings for her as the two of you dance, just like she promised you all those years ago when you believed that if you just waited, she would eventually be yours. You aren't so naïve anymore, luckily.

You had been doing so well, too. It was reaching the point where you would go days without even thinking about her, and it was only once and a while now that your heart beat faster and louder whenever she was mentioned.

But seeing her is a different story, and _dancing_ with her…

And you can't help but find it funny that it isn't as weird, that when you think of Maddie, you don't immediately think of _off-limits_, of _three-years-older_, of _unattainable_. You think of… well, just _her_.

But it's after the prom and after graduation when you really learn about her on-and-off boyfriend.

The scumbag calls her and breaks up with her over the phone because he's found someone else. All you can really make out through her tears as you sit with her in the hall outside your family's suite is found-someone-else-_weeks_-ago-that-_bastard_-I-_hate_-him, and you want to go punch the hell out of him, and offer, as you had before at prom when she was still wrapped up in thoughts of pursuing a good relationship.

When she's through crying she hugs you and thanks you, you tell her that she needs to find a good guy. A really good guy. And you tell her that she deserves the best there is, and that one day she'll find him.

And in your head you sort of hope she'll give you a kiss of gratitude that turns into something more so you two can ride off into the sunset, but instead she gives you a watery smile and another warm hug but you'll take what you can get because, really, you're giving up hope of your palms ever not sweating when she's around and your heart ever not thudding when she's speaking to you. You know you don't have a weird stalkery obsession with her, but you do have _something _that's taken up permanent residence in your mind and heart.

Maddie is the only girl who has the power to turn you into mush, for six years running.

Now that you're an adult you're expected to think about the _future_, and you do. And in addition to considering college and grad school and a great job and making tons of money, you consider domestic life. And you can't help it but she's there.

**XXX**

JAKE

It isn't until _after_ the fact that you learn about the charming law school student who breezed into Maddie's life one day and breezed out the next.

It happened so quickly that by the time you had blinked it was over (_which was fine by you_). Now that Maddie was going to law school in Boston and you were going to college in Boston the two of you had decided to meet when you both had time at some bar or another to just talk and catch up, and now that you're twenty-one it's even sweeter since you can drink.

You'd come to rely on these meetings, feeling the tension and stress of your life fade away as you sat down at the bar beside her and ordered something to drink, falling into easy conversation. It was nice, having an adult friendship with a woman who had once baby-sat you and your brother.

So far during your college career you'd yet to have a deep, meaningful relationship, for reasons you couldn't really explain, but if you tried it'd probably have something to do with fear of commitment and that piece of your heart that would always belong to Maddie.

You had tried _everything_ to squash your damn hopes during the nine years you'd known her. They were a nuisance, and quite possibly ruining your life. Every girl was compared to her, never measuring up. Who the hell finds their soul mate at twelve? Apparently you do, if you had it your way.

Maddie tells you about her current beau at a group gathering at one of the bars downtown. Others are present; your brother and his girlfriend, London and her fiancé, a celebratory drink for the newlyweds-to-be. You hear about him with an internal sigh and a long stream of curses in your head, because this means she's going to have a date and you aren't because you're an idiot and can't get an actual _girlfriend_.

But then on the day of the wedding, at the reception, she reveals to you that the man is out of the picture and gives no other details, shows no other emotions, and you can breathe a little easier and enjoy yourself a little more after that.

And you really (_really really really_) hope you aren't fooling yourself but you swear she's flirting with you.

You're twenty-one and she's twenty-four. You're both in college, though at different stages. You both know about the birds and the bees (_from firsthand experience_). You feel as if you know everything about her and you get the impression that she feels the same as she makes fun of you for pretending to know the words to the song the jazz band is playing.

When the two of you go into the lobby to get some air and you crack a joke and she giggles and smiles that broad, contagious smile of hers and it's all directed at you, you feel like you're king of the world.

Maybe that twelve-year-old boy was right about everything; maybe you were _finally _going to get your chance.

**XXX**

ZACK

Over the years you had daydreamed hundreds of different scenarios on how it would all go down. Each one involved some sort of earth-shattering revelation combined with romantic background music and the wind blowing through your blonde hair as you swept her up into your arms and kissed her soundly and passionately, her hands clutching your back as the kiss grows deeper, deeper, _deeper_ and the screen fades to black and _The End _materializes and there are claps and hoots and whistles.

After each one you'd snap yourself back to reality and consider getting rid of your James Bond movie collection.

You had put her on such a high pedestal over the years that you had nearly forgotten she's just another human being like anyone else, just like _you_, and that most of the time, life is really normal and non-apocalyptic for them, the opposite from movies and books and TV shows, and that includes when human beings finally get together after years and years of waiting.

It's a nice day, with the sun shining and the birds chirping and people out and about being happy, but it's been like this every day for a week so you've gotten used to it and it doesn't feel as special as it did the first morning you woke up to find that it wasn't raining and cloudy anymore.

It's been a crazy month, between you and your brother graduating from college and Maddie graduating from law school and your mom and Arwin getting engaged and London announcing that she and her husband are having a baby. For the first time in your life you're beginning to feel like life is moving too fast, and you sort of want to revert back to being a kid who lives in the Tipton, the biggest thing you have to worry about being what prank you're going to pull on Moseby today.

But you also know it's more than just a longing to be a child again; you're twenty-two, out of college and in the real world, heading into grad school in the fall for advertising, without a girlfriend while all of your friends are starting to find The One. You've got your apartment your father helped you buy at the beginning of the previous fall semester and a beagle puppy you got halfway through the year, and a job at an advertisement company in the city, but that's about it.

Even your brother has a better life than you going: better job, going to a better graduate school, living with his girlfriend, a complete genius. Whatever happened to him envying _your_ life?

It's after a visit to your mother and Arwin that you run into Maddie outside the Tipton on the beautiful, cloudless day, fresh from a shopping excursion at the high-end baby stores with London and planning to say 'hi' to your mom while she's in the neighborhood. Instead the two of you end up talking outside the entrance for twenty minutes, catching up after not speaking for two weeks.

You hadn't noticed it before, but you certainly do tell Maddie a lot of stuff about your life.

It's then, as there's a lull in the conversation and she's checking her voicemail on her cell phone because she missed a call from her mother that you decide to bite the bullet. The idea comes out of nowhere, but you figure, what the hell, you're twenty-two and she's twenty-five and the three years between you is practically nonexistent now. So as she's sticking her phone back into her purse and complaining about her family you throw the offer out there: do you want to have dinner with me tonight? Your voice is a little on the shy side even though you're _known _for not being shy, but with Maddie everything is different. But you're a grown man and you need to take things into your own hands if you ever want them to happen.

You're already contemplating what you're going to say when she tells you no-thanks-I-just-want-to-be-friends-you-didn't-get-that-memo-ten-years-ago? You aren't sure if you want to go with graceful acceptance or angry determination, but you don't end up having to choose because she slowly says: okay, that sounds nice.

In your head the little boy who was jealous and frustrated and caught up in patience and waiting high-fives with current-you.

You pick her up at her apartment at seven-thirty, a time agreed on easily and a bit nervously on both ends right after the initial ask-out. She's dressed semi-casually, and as you stand in her doorway right after she's opened it all you can do is stare, because her makeup is flawless and her skirt is short enough for you to really admire her legs and her hair is loosely curled past her shoulders and her eyes are bright and her smile is dazzling and all of it, every single detail, is for _you_. You feel like you're on top of the world as she locks the door and strides towards the elevator with you, because _this_, this moment, is just like you had always hoped it would be.

Dinner is simple enough, pizza at a local, popular place where the atmosphere doesn't add that much romance so there isn't any additional pressure. She laughs in all the right places and acknowledges your words and excitedly tells her own stories when you ask questions and her hand rests on your arm for a long, long time, and this is perfect.

This is your turn, and you know what you're going to do differently from every guy before you: you're going to do it _right_.

After a walk through Boston Common, talking of Cody and his girlfriend and London and her husband and their upcoming baby and your mom and Arwin's approaching marriage, where you were full of too much anxiety to hold her hand (_aren't you too old for this kind of apprehension?_), you reach her apartment once again, and you're determined to kiss her. It isn't the sort of determination you've felt before; it's a life-or-death kind of feeling, and you know that's a silly way to put it but that's how it _feels_. It isn't like you imagined before, you haven't just saved her from being taken away by the villain of the story, there isn't any wind whipping your hair around in a suave way, and you definitely aren't wearing a tux. But she doesn't hesitate as you lean forward, if any thing she does the same, and when your lips meet, it isn't completely mind-blowing and life-altering.

It's familiar, like you've been doing this for years (_which, if you had had your way, you would've_). It's comfortable, like you could be doing this for the rest of your life (_which, if you have it your way, you will_).

Maddie is flushed and giggly when you pull back, and she stumbles backwards into her apartment door before finally finding the knob and twisting it, her normal lawyer-like composure you're so used to gone. Her words as she leaves you is music to your ears: I guess we're both all grown up now. It holds promise and satisfaction and a little bit of mystery, just to keep you guessing.

You know you look dumb doing a little victory dance as you head down the darkened sidewalks of the city back home. People give you odd looks, but you don't pay them any mind.

You've waited ten years for her to go through those other guys, and you'll be damned if you aren't the last one in the line.

**XXX**

_End._


End file.
